A man who heard a toddler’s screams as its mother was hammered to death by her partner tried to kick the door down and stop what was happening, a court heard.

Giving evidence at the trial of Muhammad Asad Khan Niazi, 29, at the Old Bailey yesterday, neighbour Sudesh Doorjun told jurors how he had chatted to the defendant prior to the attack.

He said Mr Niazi seemed upset shortly before hammering his wife Charito ‘Che’ Cruz, 37, more than 50 times at the home they shared in Cambridge Road, Kingston, on September 29 last year.

He described how moments after the conversation he tried to “kick the door down” when he heard the couple’s two year old daughter screaming and the sound of someone struggling to breathe at the door.

He told the jury: “I could hear the sound of what sounded like someone struggling to breathe. It sounded really bad.

“I kept on shouting to Asad: ‘let me in, let me in or I will call the police’ but he did not respond and so I tried to kick the door in.

“This went on for maybe two or three minutes then it went quiet. Still I shouted for him to open the door but he wouldn’t.”

After trying several times to break the door down Mr Doorjun, and another couple staying in the house who had also been concerned by the noise coming from the room, decided to call the landlady Daksha Chohan, who arrived around 20 minutes later, the court heard.

In a prepared statement read out in court by prosecutor Bobbie Cheema, the landlady described the scene after finally gaining entry to the couple’s rooms.

The statement read: “After a few minutes the latch on the door clicked. I tried to push into the door but it seemed like there was something against the door so I pushed harder. I finally got into the room by pushing harder and saw Asad sitting on the chair with the baby on his knee. Charito was on the floor by the door. There was a lot of blood.”

Earlier the court heard how Mr Niazi was jealous of Ms Cruz’s contact with an old flame and on the day before she was killed he had been released on police bail after admitting criminal damage to her iPhone.

Ms Cruz had also made an appointment to visit the domestic violence one stop shop and made enquiries about changing the locks, the court heard.

The court also heard the Philippino care worker had gone to police about Mr Niazi, but did not know he had been released.

Mr Niazi admits killing his wife but denies murder, claiming he was severely depressed at the time of the attack.

The trial continues.